


moongazing

by sangi



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-09-07
Updated: 2007-09-07
Packaged: 2018-03-13 15:42:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3387224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sangi/pseuds/sangi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first time she catches him goes like this.</p>
            </blockquote>





	moongazing

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted in 2007, posted again here for archival reasons.

 

The first time she catches him goes like this:

 

He’s staring at the moon, eyes wide, something in his bearing Toph just can’t grasp. “My mother told me about the moon,” she says, not light and not soft (harsh and unyielding), and everything it never was. The earthbender takes a seat next to the water boy on the grassy knoll, and leans back against the itchy blades of grass.

 

When he doesn’t speak again, the blind girl does. “She told me that the moon has always been a person,” her voice is softer this time, slower, more gentle and calm. Sokka looks away and says nothing. “Yeah,” Toph says, putting a hand over her seafoam eyes. “That’s what she said.” 

 

It’s a small comfort, but it’s there.

 

Sokka sighs, slowly, heavily, and lets his head loll to the side.

 

* * *

  


The second time she catches him goes like this:

 

Sokka’s eyes are closed, but he’s lying on the same hill in the Fire Nation capital, the tropical trees surrounding them. He can see the blind girl approaching, but he doesn’t make a move (either to reject her or accept her). When Toph sits down next to him, the blue-eyed boy ( _man)_ can clearly make out something yellow with light brown spots in her hands.

 

She holds them out to him. “Bananas.” Her voice is subdued, and he has to strain to hear it over the slow rush of water in the stream nearby. He cocks his head to the side, clearly not understanding.

 

“They’re a fruit. You should…” the earthbender pauses. “Eat them.”

 

Sokka takes them from her hands, carefully peels one, and takes a small bite.

 

* * *

 

 

The third time, he catches her instead:

 

Toph is quiet, tired, and more subdued since the end of the war. She’s different now, but only barely. She’s normally loud, but when she spends time alone, she spends it in contemplative silence – like now. The vibrations in the earth alerted her to someone’s presence not too far away. She turns her sightless gaze away from the sky.

 

“Hey,” she says awkwardly, feeling Sokka lay down next to her on the grass. 

 

There’s a long silence, where she can hear the crickets chirping, and the soft sound of the water running over rocks in the stream nearby. The Bei Fong girl turns her head back to the sky.

 

Abruptly: “My mother told me about the moon. She said that it wasn’t a being, a spirit, but a person… not an elemental being, but a beautiful princess.”

 

She can feel Sokka’s shock as she wistfully sighs.

 

“Is that how it goes?” Toph asks him.

 

His gaze on her is pensive.

 

“Yeah,” he finally says, and she turns to face him. “Something like that.”

 

She smiles, lightly, softly, before punching in the arm. “So you don’t think I’m going soft or anything,” Toph warns, as Sokka cracks a small smile. She leans into him, and listens to him talk about the moon.

 

Sokka begins hesitantly. “There was once was a princess…”

 


End file.
